"I thought perhaps his wife and children did it, so I didn't pry further! Later, I heard about multiple cases, and that's when I realized something was amiss. I didn't dare tell you about it then, so it wasn't deliberate withholding of information!" Wang Yuan quickly explained.
Su Yue looked at Wang Yuan, a flash of disgust in her eyes. So they were all scumbags! Having learned what she wanted to know, Su Yue stood up, paid for the tea, and turned to leave the teahouse. Xing Yuan quickly followed.
Next, Su Yue and Xing Yuan went to the vicinity of other victims' crime scenes to investigate carefully, but they didn't find any useful information. The perpetrator struck once and then left, leaving no extra traces.
By noon, the four of them regrouped.
"We've found a common thread. All the deceased visited the Caiyuan Gambling House. We also checked the history of this gambling house and discovered that it has been operating for several hundred years. Although its name and owners have changed, its location has remained the same."
"I'm wondering, if this anomaly is targeting victims through this gambling house, could we use the same method to lure it out?" Yuan Li proposed.
"That's a good idea! As long as it has a fixation, it will surely strike again. Once we lure it out, we'll know if it's human or ghost," Hu Bing agreed enthusiastically.
"No rush!" Su Yue said calmly. "This guy's modus operandi is very regular, likely due to obsessive-compulsive disorder! After the first victim, each subsequent victim has been seven days apart. It's been three days now, so first, we need to figure out his selection criteria, so we can tailor our approach!"
As the others began to analyze the motive, Xing Yuan suddenly stood up and volunteered, "Captain Su, why don't I go to the Caiyuan Gambling House to investigate?"
"No! Your cultivation isn't high enough, and we still don't know his method of operation. It's too dangerous for you!" Su Yue clearly disagreed.
Xing Yuan's expression immediately fell. She tried to persuade Su Yue, "The files said all the victims were men. What danger could I be in?"
Hu Bing stepped forward and also said to Su Yue, "Why don't Wu Yi and I go together? We can look out for each other. If anything seems off, we'll come out."
"Alright!" Su Yue relented. "Then be careful, and don't alert the enemy!"
"Okay!" The two nodded immediately.
On the way to the gambling house, Hu Bing suddenly looked at Xing Yuan with suspicion and asked, "What do you want to do there?"
"Just looking for clues!" Xing Yuan immediately put on an innocent and harmless expression.
"I don't care what you're trying to do, but the Demon Extermination Division is not a place for you to run wild!" Hu Bing warned. Ever since she met Xing Yuan, her abilities had been constantly alerting her, telling her that the person before her was extremely dangerous.
However, she hadn't told anyone else. Firstly, there was no evidence. Secondly, Xing Yuan's usual demeanor made her doubt if her abilities were malfunctioning. She didn't want to wrongly accuse an innocent person.
"Of course! I'm just curious! You don't need to be so vigilant." Xing Yuan replied with a smile. Although she didn't know the basis of the suspicion, she would naturally never admit to any problems.
Hu Bing snorted and said no more, but she decided internally to keep a closer eye on Xing Yuan.
The two entered the Caiyuan Gambling House together, secretly investigating whether there was any connection between the victims.
Hu Bing and Xing Yuan stayed close, constantly observing Xing Yuan for any unusual behavior.
Xing Yuan sneered. A joke! If she wanted to do something, would anyone be able to find out? This was an insult to her abilities. Thinking this, Xing Yuan created a clone and silently departed.
A wisp of black mist soon drifted to a street corner, where a dirty, huddled little boy was curled up. The boy seemed to sense Xing Yuan's arrival and looked up blankly.
Xing Yuan paused, wondering if she had the wrong person. The people she had chosen weren't necessarily the strongest, but at least they were somewhat formidable. She didn't remember choosing a pitiable child to be her elder sister's bodyguard!
While Xing Yuan was questioning her life choices, the originally blank gaze of the child gradually cleared.
He stood up and approached the black mist. Xing Yuan instinctively dodged back.
Pan Ya looked at the swirling black mist before him and felt his soul's presence. He tentatively asked, "Are you that adult?"
The black mist seemed to stiffen for a moment. Then, Xing Yuan, who was still in the gambling house, also felt something and projected her consciousness back to the clone.
"Mm!" a cold and aloof "Yuan" replied with a single word.
Pan Ya was surprised. Was it the main body? He thought this adult couldn't leave the abyss and had entrusted the bodyguard mission to them. Then, why had they been brought out of the abyss?
Pan Ya didn't hesitate for long. He remembered that he hadn't found the person Xing Yuan had asked him to find recently, and he felt a pang of guilt. Could this be a visit to demand an explanation?
"These people who died in the city recently, you did it, didn't you!" Xing Yuan asked him, but in her heart, she had already confirmed the result. This kind of ability was what he was most skilled at.
"Yes!" Pan Ya admitted. He didn't think there was anything to hide. Having become an anomaly, what was wrong with killing a few hypocrites?
"Tell me! Why did you kill them?" Xing Yuan decided to interrogate Pan Ya on behalf of her elder sister first.
Pan Ya looked confused. "Since when do we need a reason to kill? We kill when we want to!"
"Others might, but you wouldn't! Tell me the truth!"
Pan Ya lowered his head, struggling internally. He confessed the entire matter to Xing Yuan.
"You know, my memories were the ones you helped me recover. Do you know how I died? I was sold by my father, and those people exploited every inch of my body. I died in extreme pain."
"I grew up here when I was alive! That day, I was walking around the streets again and saw someone who bore a slight resemblance to my father! He made the same choice as my father, abandoning his wife and children just to gamble again. So, driven by resentment, I killed him." As he spoke, Pan Ya's face was filled with anger. The people he hated most in his life were like that.
"Is that so?" Xing Yuan didn't believe him. "I've seen that guy's corpse. If I'm not mistaken, he died in a beautiful dream, which happens to be your talent. And you kill someone every seven days, aren't you just creating tombstones for them, letting them immerse themselves in their own beautiful dreams?"
Pan Ya's ability wasn't particularly strong, but if the dreamer's will wasn't firm enough, and they were unwilling to leave the beautiful dream he meticulously prepared, then that person's soul would gradually be devoured by Pan Ya.